"Match Day" held at the John A. Burns School of Medicine

Medical students celebrated their own March Madness today, as “Match Day” swept across the country, including at the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM).

On Match Day, graduating medical students learn where they will spend the next few three to eight years in post-graduate training, serving as physicians while also learning a specialty. Across the country, more than 15,000 graduating medical students are paired with residency programs by the National Residency Matching Program. The ceremonies happen simultaneously around the country, so Hawai‘i’s started at a bright and early 7 a.m. at the medical school’s Kaka‘ako campus.

The ceremony had a feel of the Academy Awards, as students took turns giving each other envelopes bearing news that will change their lives. Nervous parents were on hand and shouts of joy and excitement erupted the moment when all the envelopes were distributed and opened at one time.

Hawai‘i’s “Match” involved 57 medical students at JABSOM, where 90 percent of the students are Hawai’i residents. The specialties chosen included primary care (internal and family medicine), pediatrics, obstetrics & gynecology and surgery.

Fifteen of today’s students matched here in Hawaiʻi in JABSOM’s own post-MD physician training program, The Hawai‘i Residency Program. The Hawai‘i Residency Program partners with major medical centers statewide to train more than 200 graduated MDs in internal medicine, geriatric medicine, general surgery, family practice, psychiatry (general, geriatric, child and adolescent and addictions), obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, pathology and orthopedic surgery. Additional new doctors from around the country who “matched” today will also train in the Hawai‘i specialty-training program. In the meantime, JABSOM has another 180 medical students, in addition to today’s 57 who "matched,” who are still in their first, second and third years of medical training to earn their MDs.

The class of 2010 students “matched” will graduate in May and begin their specialty training almost immediately.

INTERESTING POINTS ABOUT THE CLASS OF 2010

The most Native Hawaiians in a single class, 11.

More than 60 percent are choosing primary care specialties, a much-needed service shortage area, which is higher than most students around the country. Primary care does not pay as much as sub-specialty fields like anesthesia, cardiology, etc. Like most students, the class of 2010 have big school loans to pay off. Current in-state (resident) tuition at JABSOM: $29,184 per year. Out of state is $61,464 per year.

Hawai‘i is currently short by 500 practicing physicians; and more than a quarter of the ones we do have are already at retirement age. With an aging population, more doctors like these are needed.